The days are just packed

Aug. 8th, 2014

I'm in London for the first of three mini-jaunts for various things from now until 28 August. unjapanologist and I have been having a good time so far! Yesterday afternoon after I got off the Tube from Heathrow we went to St. Paul's and saw the poppies at the Tower (I'm not sure if you've heard about this, world, but this year is the centennial of the start of WW1) and crossed the Millennium Bridge (me: "It's the bridge the Death Eaters wreck in HP6!" Her: "Let's go!"), observed the flocks of bankers in their natural habitat, i.e. out on the street outside anywhere labeled "pub," "bar," or "tavern" from 17:00, ate a late lunch in a graveyard, and found dinner in the City, which is more work than one might think. I've never spent so much time in the east part of central London before (and the last time I was in London proper it was 14 years ago), and it's quite different from the western part, i.e. full of banks and business-type places. There are a lot more healthful chain food places and a lot more bicyclists than when I was last here, for sure. And some of the healthful food chain places have FLAT WHITES.

Still the same: the tear-jerking dollars/pounds exchange rate, though it's apparently actually slightly improved relative to when I was here in August 2000. Well, that's a nice change.